I try to use the Rocklobster method, I read 4 or 5 recipes for the item I'm interested in and come up with my own version.

Anybody heard from that lobster lately, I miss his posts!

I hope all is well in his end of the ocean!

I do this a lot. Sometimes I mostly want some detail of the process, or to see what options there are in the process. Other times I'm short some ingredient or seasoning, and need to see if what I do have will do the job.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy M.

I also collect several versions of a recipe and compare them. Then I make a composite recipe to cook from.

Cookbooks tend to be more reliable as the recipes are tested a written. You can't count on every person with a website to check and recheck recipes and test their preparation then their transcription to the internet.

If I'm looking for a special recipe, I search reputable websites and ignore blogs. I have found some very good recipes from blogs but that's more haphazard and I hate the way most blogs are structured so I avoid them.

I like sites like All Recipes, because of the user comments and suggestions. I can quickly get a feel for whether it's something I want to do or not. I always have to shake my head about some of the extremely negative comments, often from someone who made pretty silly changes in the recipe (leaving out a key ingredient, or adding something that changed it beyond recognition, etc) and then didn't understand that it wasn't designed to work that way.

I agree, I go to Allrecipes often for a particular dish I'm looking for. I scroll through the ingredients and decide if it's something I want to make, with my own little changes, or not. At least it's a base to go by.

I also find it funny when a reviewer makes changes to the original recipe to where it's no longer recognizable as the original, and posts their review on it.

__________________

__________________Grandchildren fill the space in your heart you never knew was empty.

Not so much in their books, but Celebrity chefs on TV have made a mistake or two when describing the proper technique for making things.

To be fair, there are good bloggers who really test their recipes, or use tried and true recipes that they've been using for a while. But as has been said, there are bloggers who really know very little about cooking, but think they have all the answers. Occasionally, on DC, we have had those people as well. They usually go away fairly quickly.

In cooking, as in all things, a good dose of humility will allow you to post intelligent, well thought out posts, and to learn from others. Now, I have to go make bread dough for home made pizza pasties tonight (like calzones, only better).

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

__________________“No amount of success outside the home can compensate for failure within the home…"

I know it's so easy to google a recipe but I too now am wary. I suppose there is a reason why cook books /writers/chefs are successful because it is a skill , which you can learn , but to be able to teach people and to get good results I think is a real skill . There are so many bloggers now that I think a half decent recipe can easily get muddled . What makes sense in your head or in your kitchen may not make sense to others . Not everyone speaks English and there can be a little lost in translation (or a lot ) . My favourite cook in the UK is Delia Smith , she did indeed teach me how to cook and has written a series of How to Cook books which are exactly what anyone starting from scratch would need . You also can't assume that everyone would know what an ingredient or method is , or how to substitute or adapt if an ingredient isn't available . When the recipe is on the Internet then obviously we are viewing it from all over . It's a little minefield .

Well done Andy M.
I do the same and have made great curries. I have even had an Indian women complement me on my recipes. What Andy M does is great as it becomes his recipe to modify as he wants and publish as a solid recipe. I have put my first recipe in the ethnic forum Chicken Korma. Hope to get feedback.

This is why we have to test the recipes the Chefs develop for the company for which I cook for the photographer. I usually test the recipe first, or an element of the recipe to see if the steps are all there or if it works. I had a problem with the amounts in a recipe for Parisian gnocchi--if I hadn't tested how to make those first, the photographer would have been waiting for me to resolve that. I don't think I've tested one recipe where everything has been right or that didn't need to be tweaked to so that the instructions were clear or add tools needed to the tools list. When I develop a recipe, I have others test it as written before we schedule the photoshoot.